Revolution
by EchizenRyomaLover
Summary: SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 80. Do not read this if you have not read the manga till that point. Life is but a cycle of things that you must accept in order to keep on living. But how do you know when you've finally reached the breaking point? Semi-AU fic on the fate of Oz and everyone else.
1. Chapter 1 Guilty Gunfire

**VERY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE:**

Spoiler alerts for manga until chapter 80. This fic is a semi-AU born out of the latest dark revelations in the series, so it is important that readers are updated as well so that you'll understand what is going on. I do not know what will happen past chapter 80, but I am going to write this fic in the way I think the series will turn out (kind of).

I admit that I haven't planned this out to the very end, so if you have any brilliant ideas, please PM them to me.

The beginning of this fic will start off from where chapter 80 ended. Happy reading!

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Stop it! Don't…move," commanded Gil as he aimed his rifle at Oscar.

Oscar Vessalius, the one man (other than Gil) whom Oz thought would never want to end his existence, despite the fact that he was never truly human. But now here he is, crouched on the ground with a look ready to kill the one child whose warm touch meant the world to him, all because his own true child was not allowed to exist for the sake of this one.

"Oz…" Oscar began. "Forgive me. I know you didn't want any of this happen, but Jack did. He killed my happiness, and now I must kill him; even if it means killing you."

Oz, standing at the corner near the wall, could not utter a reply. His body was cold and numb while his throat felt dry. He felt absolutely sick. He felt like his body temperature was oscillating between fiery hot and freezing cold. Whenever the waves of cold would come to him, he would clutch the coat in his hands a little tighter, but the thought that his uncle was the one who returned it to him made him fiery hot all over that he just wanted to collapse. His knees were wobbling, but some inexplicable thing (perhaps adrenaline) was allowing him to keep his balance. If he weren't so numb and terrified, his teeth would probably have been chattering as well, but his hyperactive senses betrayed no sounds coming from his mouth.

Oz continued to stare blankly into Uncle Oscar, both seeing and not seeing him at the same time. He also knew that Gil was trying to stare at him, if it weren't for the fact that he was trying to prevent Uncle Oscar from shooting him, but he knew. How he wish he knew more though. For example, he wish he knew how to fix this fucked up mess that arose from one deranged man named Jack Vessalius.

He couldn't blame Uncle Oscar though. It was totally understandable that his uncle would hate him now. After all, he was still Jack in a sense, and Jack killed his uncle's child AND his wife, not to mention the real Oz Vessalius (and the real Oz Vessalius' mother). In fact, he hated Jack too. If it wasn't for him, Oz wouldn't be living a lie right now. He wouldn't be alive at all. The fact was plain and obvious. Everything was Jack's fault, and now Oz, as Jack's vessel, was paying for the consequences of Jack's actions.

Gil could not stop his arm from shaking, but he did his best to keep the rifle aimed point blank at Oscar's head. So far, he was the only person who actually cared about Oz right now. He didn't even want to think about whether or not Ada knew the whole truth. She probably did. And the thought of how she would think of Oz from now on was something he did not want to dwell on, especially not at this point. He was the only "absolute" in Oz's life now, and technically speaking, he did end up breaking his word when he shot his own master, but he was going to make sure that would never happen ever again. If Oz were to lose him, then Oz would probably lose the one last source of his sanity.

Some of the staff from Pandora were starting to gain consciousness. The ones closest to the stairs were first, and they were removing the safety locks from their guns, ready to shoot Oz. The one thing that kept them from pulling the trigger was the fact that Oscar seemed like he would do it first, considering that he was closest (literally) to Oz. Moreover, if they made one false move, Gil just might pull the trigger on Oscar as well.

"Oscar-sama," Gil began. "Are you sure about that? I'm not saying I understand your pain but please reconsider. Oz didn't want any of this to happen! And while Jack is inside him, killing Jack would kill Oz as well! Do you really want that? Doesn't Oz mean anything to you anymore?!" Gil's voice rose to the point of hysteria, and the gun in his hand continued to shake. He didn't want to do this, but he had to.

"Gil, I…" Oscar hesitated.

"Oscar-sama!" By now, all of the Pandora staff had regained consciousness. "Please hurry and shoot him! The Baskervilles will come after us and the rest of Pandora if we don't!"

"Oh shit" Gil muttered, and with his honed reflexes, he shot the ground right next to Oscar and made a mad dash for it with Oz in tow.

"Gil! Where are we going?!" Oz cried, regaining his awareness.

"To the Nightray mansion. Vincent will let us take shelter there. We have to get out first and think about the situation carefully. Too much has happened, and we need to time to recover. I think Break is on our side as well, but I don't think we'll be able to rescue him from the Baskervilles at this rate."

"Gil, that's enough! Didn't you hear Uncle Oscar? He has every reason to want to get rid of me!"

"I'm not about to let you die in a place like this! I don't care what the others' reasons are. You are my master, and I will do everything in my power to keep you alive!" Gil's hold on Oz tightened. He knew what his master was thinking; that he wasn't worthy of existing at all because he was a fake, that even though he didn't want any of this to happen it was still his fault because Jack was inside him, and that there was nothing he could do but accept everything. Gil knew; knew that his master was kind and selfless to a fault, and that nothing would make Oz feel like he had no reason to repent for this, especially with his life and nothing less.

Oz cringed. Gil's hold was a little too tight for comfort, but he knew that his servant was just afraid to lose him forever. He didn't know whether or not to be thankful for having Gil at his side. He was thankful that Gil continued to be the one "absolute" in his life, but at the same time he wanted to slap Gil and just tell him to get some common sense that he was a Baskerville and that he shouldn't be here siding with the "enemy". Tears welled up in his eyes; from relief or anguish, he couldn't tell.

Still, selfishly, the one thing he was sure of was that he didn't want to die. Not just yet.


	2. Chapter 2 Clockwise of Resolution

**Chapter 2**

"Kill him. Along with with Oz Vessalius," Glen commanded.

"As you wish, Glen-sama," Lotti and the others replied. With that, they headed out along with their chains.

"Gilbert couldn't have gotten too far. We know this area a lot better than he does," Lotti commented as they ran through the hallways.

"True, but how do we plan to fight against Raven?" Dug replied.

"I don't know, but one thing is for sure, we can't violate Glen-sama's order. Gilbert has betrayed us, and for protecting the body of that man who ruined everything, we have to kill him. No, both of them."

* * *

"This way!" Gil cried, pulling Oz's arm as they made another quick, sharp turn. Perhaps because he was a Baskerville that he just seemed to know where to go despite the myriad of winding hallways that led to a good number of dead ends. His mind was in circles, and the only thing that kept him aware of his outside world was the desperate need to get Oz to safety.

Oz, on the other hand, was still half-numb. He didn't know whether he was trying to process the situation or preventing everything from sinking in lest he break down completely. The rational side of his mind was trying to tell him to stay calm and focused so they could get out alive, but eventually this side fell prey to his emotions and all he knew was that his rational side was now telling him he shouldn't even be alive at all.

"Gil, I—"

"There they are! Get them!"

Gil spun around to the sound of the voice, finding it to be Lotti's. With a flick of his wrist, he fired a bullet in her direction, buying him some time to summon Raven.

"Stay back!" he cried, as he unleashed Raven's blue flames.

As the Baskervilles struggled to avoid the flames from engulfing them, Gil clutched Oz by the waist with his one good arm and said, "Hold on tight" as he invoked Raven's teleportation powers.

And with that, they had gotten away.

* * *

"Gil!" Vincent cried, upon seeing Raven's flames.

"Vincent, we need to take shelter, please let us—"

"Shush, it's okay. I know. They're after you, aren't they? And now you need to get away, which is why I have prepared a carriage. As much as I want you here by my side, you can't stay. This is the first place they would think to look."

"Vincent…"

"Gil, I know I can't be by your side, but you're still my brother. I still don't like the fact that you remembered everything, but, I will help you, so go."

Stunned but still resolute, Gil nodded his head and replied "Thank you, Vincent."

And with one last, bittersweet smile from Vincent, Gil and Oz headed towards the carriage. Gil opened the carriage door and allowed Oz to enter. "I'll man the carriage," he said.

Oz nodded his head, and just before Gil was about to close the door, he grabbed Gil's arm and asked softly "Where are we going?"

"To Reveille," Gil replied with a soft smile after seeing the uncertainty in Oz's face. "It's still a fairly predictable place for them to find us, but it won't be the first place for them to look. At least we can rest there tonight and go somewhere farther away from here by sea."

"I…see. Okay," Oz finally said.

As much as Gil was glad that Oz wasn't dismissing his emotions as much anymore, he was also very heartbroken at the sight. Never before had Oz been in such despair, and honestly, Gil couldn't blame him. Everything was quickly being taken away from him, to the point that Oz couldn't even grasp the things he had lost and the things he still had anymore.

"We'll be fine. I promise." And with that, Gil finally closed the door.

* * *

By the time they arrived in Gil's small house in Reveille they realized it was already 3:00am. After Oz's capture by the Baskervilles it was the first time they had even thought about time itself.

Gil flicked on the light switch while Oz made his way to the couch. Gil, knowing he wouldn't get a word from Oz at this point, set about to light the fireplace, along with making some tea.

Once Gil had finished his chores, he set the two tea cups down along with the kettle on the small coffee table across the couch and found Oz staring blankly into the fireplace.

"Oz—"

"How much do you know about me?"

"What?" Gil asked, perplexed.

"You know I'm the real B-rabbit, and that I was contracted to Jack, and that together we caused the Tragedy of Sablier. Most of all, you know that this is his body, and that my soul just came to reside here. What else do you know about me?"

Gil, not used to Oz's intensely serious gaze, replied "That's about it."

"Just as I thought," Oz sighed, grabbing one of the tea cups on the table. Taking this as his cue, Gil grabbed the other tea cup and sat down next to Oz.

"Do you know how I came to be B-rabbit?" Oz continued. When Gil slowly shook his head, Oz made a soft smile and tightened his grip on the tea cup, all of which did not escape Gil's notice.

"I was actually two stuffed toys, both of which were owned by Lacie. In her childhood she had given one of me to the Abyss so that it would be less lonely. I didn't even have a consciousness then. But I continued to grow there, keeping the Abyss company. A few years later, Lacie gave my second half to the Abyss, saying that that would be her last visit. I think that was the first time I ever felt anything, because then I could have sworn my chest got unbearably tighter when she said that. I fell into a deep sleep after that and the next thing I knew I heard the sound of crying. There were two infants, the two Alices, one of which stayed in the Abyss while the Alice that we know took one of me with her as she left the Abyss. As you know, she ended up living with the Baskervilles, and I was her favorite toy. That was also when she named me. I realized I felt happy then and that I wanted to protect her. Meanwhile, the other Alice, who became the Will of the Abyss, crossed her consciousness over to our world in order to meet Jack, and for that she wanted to hand Jack the last fragment of Lacie's memories and give it to him. I absorbed that fragment at the cost of my body deteriorating in the human world. When Jack noticed my body crumbling, he was able to see the memory in the fragment, and that was what motivated him to cause the Tragedy of Sablier. "

Gil continued to sit, stunned, his tea forgotten.

Oz continued. "And because the Will of the Abyss loved Jack, he ended up fooling her to give him a chain that could destroy the chains holding this world. And through fooling Vincent, Jack was able to open a Door to the Abyss so that my other body from the Abyss could cross over and form a contract with him. He made me kill people, and because of his desires, Alice killed herself to prevent things from getting worse, and…and…"

Gil, seeing Oz shaking violently with tears, set his tea cup quickly on the table and hugged Oz. "It's not your fault, okay? You didn't want any of this to happen."

"How…could…you say that! If I…if I…if I..!" Oz choked. He forced himself to continue "If I hadn't shown him that fragment, then none of this could have ever happened!"

"Oz, you had the best intentions. You couldn't have predicted that all that would have happened! Besides, the rest of that was Jack's doing and all he kept doing was forcing you to do things against your will. It's not your fault. Please believe that. I'm sure Alice feels the same way."

_Wait, where was Alice?_

Oz, sensing Gil's wonder, answered "I sent her away. Because of our contract, she can't stay in this world unless I acknowledge her."

"Oz…"

"I don't want her to suffer anymore. She's safe with the Will of the Abyss now," Oz said quietly, his voice muffled by Gil's shirt.

Gil could only hug Oz to the best of his ability. This was the first time that he had actually wanted his left arm back, if only to be able to hug Oz completely and try to make his problems go away, even for just a while.

* * *

At 6:00am, the sun had risen, and the first streaks of sunlight pervaded through Gil's eyelids. After god-knows-how long, Oz had cried himself to sleep, and Gil had fallen asleep shortly afterward, with the exhaustion of the new contract and of using his powers finally sinking in. If it weren't for the sense of urgency, he would have preferred to rest a bit more, more so for Oz. After adjusting his eyes to the morning sun, Gil looked down to see Oz's calm sleeping face, with tear tracks still very much apparent. He really wanted Oz to be able to enjoy this brief moment of calm just a little bit longer, but they really couldn't afford to stay. The sooner they got away from their pursuers, the better.

Gil nudged Oz's shoulder gently. "Oz. Oz. Time to wake up."

With a mild groan, Oz's eyes soon welcomed the morning light as well. Gil had to cringe in his mind just a bit when he saw how red and puffy Oz's eyes still were.

"Gil? What time is it?" Oz asked, still a bit disoriented.

"6:15," Gil replied, as he stared at the wall clock hanging just across them. He was surprised it still worked. "Come on Oz, go and clean yourself up. We'll eat a little along the way then buy some things we need. It's going to be a long trip."

Gil's last sentence finally brought Oz to full awareness. "Gil," he began. "Where exactly are we going?"

At this, Gil looked bashfully at the floor. "I have to admit that I haven't fully planned this out. But maybe we can go to a country somewhere in the East? It will be less likely that they would look for us there."

"I swear I will protect you, Oz" Gil continued, this time firmly with his eyes looking straight into Oz's.

"Gil, I get it. But…we can't run away from this. I can't run away from this. Either way, Jack is still inside me, and since he's been getting more desperate lately, he's also been increasing his control over me. I can't say I'll be able to fight him off very well."

"Then why can't we just wait for his soul to disintegrate completely? This is his last cycle already. His soul will be devoured by the Abyss eventually," Gil countered.

"That may be so, but you and I both know how persistent he is. He will definitely try to do something before his end truly comes. He's not giving up without a fight."

Gil sighed. Oz was obviously right, but this was still unsettling him. "So, what do you propose we do?"

Oz finally released himself from Gil's hold, stood up, and, with his mischievous smirk, said, "We're going back to where it all began; to the clock at the coming-of-age ceremony."

* * *

A/N: Yes, finished Chapter 2 at last! I really hope I keep this up. And no, Chapter 3 will most certainly NOT be the last chapter. :)

To my anonymous guest reviewer, thank you for reviewing! It means a lot to me. Actually, I know exactly how I want this to go, but I am very open to the brilliant ideas of other readers because there's a chance I could incorporate them into my original plans.

Please do review. It makes my day. XD


	3. Chapter 3 Blood-stained Sacrifice

**Chapter 3**

"What makes you think that's the best place to go?" Gil asked.

"That's a secret for now~" Oz teased back.

"Oz—! Please…" Gil cried, restraining himself. He was glad that Oz was returning to his normal self, but then his master's normal self also consisted of a not-so-great side that dismissed the serious atmosphere when it shouldn't have been dismissed. These were the times when he really wanted a cigarette.

Oz, sensing Gil's irritation, became more solemn. "I promise to explain while we're on the way. Please trust me."

Oz's tone of voice made Gil raise his head to really look his master in the eye. Sometimes he forgot how deadly serious Oz could be as well, and because his master rarely did it, the seriousness of his gaze felt like it was being magnified ten times over.

With a firm look of his own, Gil replied, "Alright. We'll get a carriage and leave once we've bought more bullets."

* * *

With the preparations over and the carriage under way, Gil and Oz spent their first few minutes inside the carriage trying to calm their nerves; Gil for not knowing what was going to happen next, and Oz for knowing what would happen all too well. Sort of.

With a deep sigh, Oz finally spoke up. "Gil, when I was asleep a few hours ago I dreamt, or rather, revisited Jack's memories of when he spoke to the Will of Abyss to form a contract with me."

Gil's head snapped to full attention, a silent urge for Oz to continue.

"It was the time when she told him that he needed to open a Door of the Abyss because I was too powerful to be released through simple means. But, then I remembered that that wasn't all that she had told him. She told him the one problem he had with forming a contract with me."

"And, what was that?" Gil asked.

"That, since Jack wasn't a Baskerville, he could only form an illegal contract with me."

"But how is that possible? Jack didn't end up in the Abyss right after the Tragedy of Sablier! Until now he's still here." Gil replied.

"Exactly. And how do you think that was possible?"

"Did…he find a way around the illegal contract? Something like the blood mirror method that Pandora uses?" Gil guessed.

"Right. Now the blood mirrors that Pandora members like Sharon use today are made by the heads of the duke houses [1]. Because of the dukes' bonds to these powerful chains, they had the power to authorize other people to form contracts with other chains through the creation of these blood mirrors. These blood mirrors look like the seal on an illegal contractor's chest, but instead of sending the contractor to the abyss like an illegal contract would due to the seal making a full rotation, the blood mirror, when drenched in the blood in the contractor, freezes the 'body clock' of the contractor, which in turn, also freezes the actual body of the contractor, and explains why people like Break and Sharon do not age. However, like Break said, that doesn't make him immortal. The blood mirror still has a limit because it was only created through a small fraction of the duke's (and his chain's) power. Once the power of the blood mirror runs out, it will 'unfreeze' the contract. Fortunately, for Break and the others, they won't get sent to the Abyss because the power of the duke (and the chain that he was contracted to) was offered as the sacrifice of the contract. The only problem is that people like Break who have been in such a contract for so long may suddenly just die one day when their body is at their limit."

"So, what are you getting at, Oz?"

"What I'm getting at is that Jack used the principle of the blood mirror, only, blood mirrors hadn't existed back then because a) The other duke houses back then didn't exist and the Baskervilles had all the five chains; and in turn b) Because no non-Baskerville was contracted to a chain, the need for other forms of legal contracting like the blood mirror did not exist. So Jack started it all."

"But how did he do it?" Gil asked.

"The Will of Abyss gave him advice. She told him that he needed to make a contract the way a Baskerville would even though he wasn't one himself. Now the principle things needed for a blood mirror contract are: a mirror or any other object for the blood of the contractor, and a sacrifice to the Abyss for making this contract, which will act as an assurance to not get sent to the Abyss."

"But since Jack wasn't a Baskerville and he didn't have any of the powers that the current dukes have today, what did he use?"

Oz smiled. "And that's the question I was waiting for. For the object, he used this pocket watch that he made for Lacie. I found out from the dream that he had created a small compartment at the back to contain his blood. The sacrifice to the Abyss, of course, was another matter. It was also the very question he asked the Will of the Abyss: 'What do I have that can equal the power of one of the black-winged chain?' And that's when the Will of the Abyss said that the only thing Jack could sacrifice was his memories of Lacie."

Oz opened the small compartment in the pocket watch, observing the minute, faded blood stains that spoke so much history. With a deep sigh, he closed it firmly and continued. "The Will of the Abyss told Jack that his love for Lacie was the only thing that could even come close to the power of a black-winged chain. Of course, that would have defeated the purpose of forming a contract with me to sever the chains of this world, so the Will of the Abyss said that Jack would have to pay the price once the limited power she would put into the blood mirror ran out."

"Wait." Gil interrupted, confused. "Then doesn't that kind of feel like an illegal contract in the end? Jack, with his memories slowly being sacrificed to the Abyss in bits and pieces would eventually result in all of him being sent to the Abyss."

"True, but it was able to last longer than a typical illegal contract, as evidenced by the fact that he's still here. This 'improvised blood mirror method' that Jack performed was imperfect. It had never been tried before, after all, and Jack himself didn't have any special powers linked to the Abyss. And most of all, Jack's sacrifice apparently wasn't fully enough for some reason. This imperfect sacrifice resulted in an imperfect blood mirror contract. His body didn't freeze. Rather, it began this cycle of growing into an adult then regressing into a child. This happened every time a fragment of his memory was surrendered to the Abyss. With the continuous sacrifices of his memories and the numerous cycles of aging and regressing, his soul was damaged to the point that not only his memories but his entire existence was slowly being swallowed by the Abyss."

"And this is Jack's last cycle, right? Meaning this is also his last fragment," Gil inferred.

"Precisely, and again that's why he's getting more desperate. I don't know how long it will take for his existence to fully fade away, but we simply can't wait any longer. He hasn't channeled his consciousness into me since before I was captured, and that worries me because I think he's saving up his energy for one last, grand struggle. I can't risk it. I have to send his last fragment to the existence to the Abyss before it's too late."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"I'm going to ask a Baskerville to do it. After all, only those who control the black-winged chains can send people to the Abyss."

"Then in that case, why not let me do it? Gil asked, perplexed.

"Because there is only one Baskerville who can do it; one older and, in a way, more powerful than Glen."

Upon seeing that they had arrived at the mansion, Oz opened the carriage door, saying:

"We need Jiri Baskerville." [2]

* * *

**Footnotes:**

[1] This is purely a theory of mine on the blood mirrors used by Pandora. Of course, I exploited it to my advantage in bending the story.

[2] Jiri is the most mysterious character in the series so far, and for that, I'm exploiting her. The fact that Levi, the "Glen" before Oswald, had said that Jiri has been around ever since, acting as the adviser to the current Glen proves that she is someone much more important than just another Baskerville servant. Her seniority (literally) over Glen and the others makes me think that she could be as old as time itself (at her debut in the manga during the time Levi was alive, she was already more than a hundred years old!). As much as I would love to create my own detailed account of her past, I honestly wouldn't know how to proceed with that, since there's so little information about her in the series. Still, as you can see, she will play a pivotal role in the succeeding chapters.

* * *

**Anonymous Guests Review Reply** (how I wish you were members so I could PM and thank you personally):

Guest from chapter 2: Here you go and hope you liked this one even though it was mostly dialogue. I wanted to clarify things first, as I plan for things to get more mixed up from now on. XD

Paz: OH WOW THANK YOU I AM FLATTERED. As a Psych major, I am flattered to be praised for good characterization. It reassures me that I chose the right course to supplement my writing. ^^ I hope this chapter did not disappoint.

Please review! It super motivates me. :)))))


	4. Chapter 4 Choice of Conviction

**Chapter 4**

"We need Jiri Baskerville."

* * *

"Oz…how do you know about Jiri?" Gil asked, confused. _Had Jack known about Jiri, in turn revealing her to Oz? Jiri's identity was a secret exclusive to the Baskervilles. Perhaps Glen was that close to Jack and the former revealed it to him? That must have been it._

Oz, sensing Gil's apprehension, shook his head. "No, Jack doesn't know all of this. Otherwise I'm sure he would have taken extra precautions against Jiri. I remembered her because I had actually met her in person."

"And…when was that?" Gil asked once more. Oz seemed to know a whole lot more than he had been letting on. Then again, he did just find about out his true identity in the blink of an eye because of Jack. Who knows what else Oz had learned in such a brief span of time?

"Remember when I told you that one of my bodies disintegrated because I absorbed Lacie's last fragment so that I could deliver it to Jack?" At Gil's silence, he continued, "My memories from that disintegrated body had to go somewhere else, seeing as there was no body anymore. But my other body was with the Will of the Abyss, so Jiri guided my memory fragments to my other body in the Abyss."

That last sentence made Gil stop in his tracks. "Wait," he began. "Jiri guided you back to the Abyss?! But…but how?!"

Oz, who had been walking towards the mansion, also stopped walking. He turned around, looked at Gil for a good five seconds, and, seeing no traces of deception on Gil's face, asked, "Gil, how much do you know about Jiri?"

"W-Well, I know that she's been around longer than any of the previous Glens and that she acts as some sort of adviser to them. That's…about it," Gil finally finished.

"Hmm, I see. That does confirm my theory then. This is starting to look good for us," Oz tried to smile cheerfully as he usually did, but somehow, it came out softer and more subdued than he would haven wanted it to be.

"Oz, what is going on?" Gil asked (as it seemed like it was the only thing he could do now; god, he felt so powerless about everything. And here he was supposed to be the one to help Oz!), worry etching onto his face.

Seeing Gil's darkening expression, Oz chuckled softly and patted Gil's shoulder. "Relax. I just wanted to make sure how much you knew about Jiri. From what she told me, I did suspect that the entire Baskerville clan didn't really know much about her, and your answer just confirmed it. Jiri is actually the personal guide of the Will of the Abyss. You know that the Abyss is a vast place, and you can't exactly tell in which part of it you're going to land. But sometimes the Will of the Abyss wants certain people to end up in her dwelling place right away, and it's Jiri's job to guide her guests for her. I found out about that when she escorted my memory fragments back to the other half of my body."

"I see. So, seeing as you need her to get rid of Jack, are you saying that she's going to send Jack to the Abyss?" Gil guessed.

"Exactly. It's kind of like how my fa—I mean, how Zai Vessalius sent me to the Abyss, except he sent both my body and soul there. Since Jack is pretty much just a soul fragment now, we only need to send that part of him to the Abyss, so that his body, which I'm using, can stay here. And Jiri has the power to do that. She can separate Jack's soul from mine and send only him to the Abyss. By doing so, Glen and the other Baskervilles won't have any reason to pursue me because without Jack, I am without a contract, and of course no one would command me to sever the chains holding this world."

"But Oz, how do you know that Jiri is here?"

This made Oz smile sheepishly. "Process of elimination. Not once had I ever seen her with the other Baskervilles, and while I thought there was a chance that they could just be hiding her until the right moment came, I couldn't detect her anywhere at all in Pandora Headquarters. You know how Chains give off distinct scents? Even the Baskervilles themselves, who are very close to their chains, have developed that, and I don't smell Jiri's scent anywhere. But somehow, I thought that this was the only place left which held a strong connection to the Abyss and which we hadn't checked yet. And considering Jiri's role as the guide to the Abyss, I inferred that she'd be somewhere with a Door to the Abyss, and this was it. The closer we got to the mansion, the more I could detect her scent, so I'm positive she's in there."

Gil nodded approvingly, and allowed a small smile to light up his face.

"Hey!" Oz chuckled. "What's up with that smile, Mr. Usually-worrywart-Raven?" he teased.

Gil blushed, but allowed himself to smile once again. "It's just that…while you were explaining Jiri to me, I thought you were going to do something drastic and have yourself dragged back to the Abyss again or something. I'm glad that you intend to stay here as Oz."

Oz, momentarily stunned, smiled softly. "Don't worry. Gil…I promise you that Oz will always be here."

Uncomfortable with the current atmosphere, Oz shook his head one last time, as if trying to vanish such thoughts away, and looked at Gil seriously once more. "Let's go, Jiri's waiting."

And with that, the pair ran to the door, with guns ready in case they met an opposition.

* * *

Fortunately, the room was dead quiet, and it looked absolutely abandoned, just like when Oz had visited it upon his return from the Abyss. Still, both of them remained cautious, tiptoeing carefully up the stairs where Oz had climbed ten years ago to fulfill his oath. Well, his oath as heir to the Vessalius dukedom, which didn't really apply anymore.

As they reached the last step at the top, Oz looked at the clock he had sworn his pledge on. It had resumed moving after he was sent to the Abyss, and it had not stopped ticking ever since.

"Gil…" Oz began. "I can sense Jiri here, but she's not fully in this world right now. I can feel that she's in that small border between the Abyss and this world, and I need you to use Raven to open a small path for me so that I can communicate with her."

"But Oz, what if she drags you back into the Abyss or something? We can't fully trust her! Let me go with you," Gil said, worry increasing the pitch of his voice.

"No," Oz said firmly. "You'll be needing all your energy to summon Raven and open a path small enough to let Jiri come here. Moreover, you'll have to worry in case Pandora and/or any of the Baskervilles get here first."

Gil, realizing that Oz was right, turned his back towards Oz and faced the door. "Fine, but don't do anything dangerous!"

"I won't." Oz promised.

Gil finally summoned Raven and commanded it to open the Door to the Abyss. "Don't go too far inside. You might not be able to get out!" he called out to Oz.

Oz nodded his head, despite knowing that Gil would most likely not have seen it. He couldn't trust himself to speak, especially with what he was going to do next.

As the Door to the Abyss widened, he could make out an old woman in a red cloak, her golden eyes a distinct glow in the darkness of the borders of the Abyss.

"Jiri," Oz greeted.

"Oz Vessalius…no, B-rabbit…" the old woman hissed.

As the woman approached the entrance, Oz did as well, and the two stood at the very borders of the two worlds, seeing eye to eye.

"Jiri, I'm here to make a deal with you," Oz said.

* * *

Just as Gil was about to look in Oz's direction, the doors were banged open and the Baskervilles bounded inside, with Glen right in front.

Gil fired his bullet right at Glen's feet and shouted "Don't move!"

"Don't move or what?" Lotti teased. "Or you'll shoot? You forget that we don't die that easily, Gilbert. Now hand Oz Vessalius over!"

"Not a chance!" Gil cried as he commanded Raven to fire his blue flames towards the Baskervilles.

Glen/Leo shielded them with Jabberwock's wings, but the wings did not come out completely unharmed. "Buy me some time," he commanded to his servants as he prepared Jabberwock to generate a powerful energy beam.

"Yes sir!" Lottie and the others replied. They ran as fast they could, doing their best to avoid Raven's flames. They would definitely not come out of this unscathed, but if they could just get to Gil and kill him, then Oz will be easier prey.

Gil, sensing the Baskervilles' plan, started firing more of his bullets as well. He was in a panic. He had to protect Oz and hope he would make it in time. He could not allow the Baskervilles to ruin his plan. He had to do something.

"Just a little longer Gil!" Oz cried.

A loud _click clack_ hung in the air, and Gil realized he was out of bullets. While Raven continued unleashing its flames, he began to reload. It was a lot harder now that he only had one arm, and his panic didn't help one bit.

Lotti, seeing an opening, took a dagger out of the pocket of her cloak and threw it in the air, aiming towards Gil's forehead.

Gil finally noticed it but it was too late for him to react. As he was about to close his eyes and brace himself for the impact, Oz's scythe had deflected it in time.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Gil," Oz said with a smile.

Sensing Jabberwock's impending fire, Oz summoned more of his power and slashed his dark energy towards Jabberwock, preventing the latter from destroying everything in sight.

"Glen Baskerville, don't interfere. I'm here to finish Jack once and for all!" Oz declared. And with that, he ran towards the clock and summoned B-rabbit's chains.

Glen, in a mad panic, ran towards Oz and Gil, but Gil blocked his way with both his gun and Raven.

"Don't come any closer!" Gil cried.

With a frown, Gil and Glen began their battle. Glen unleashed his sword, while Gil tried his best to throw Glen off balance with his bullets.

Suddenly, the earth began to shake, and the Door to the Abyss opened wider, allowing Jiri to cross to the human world.

Glen, surprised by Jiri halted in his tracks. "Jiri…"

"Hush child. I have made a deal with B-rabbit, and I assure you it will work in our favor," the old woman remarked.

"What is the meaning of this? Jiri, I demand an explanation!" Glen barked.

"Come now, child. Allow me to do what I must." And with that Jiri touched Oz's forehead and cried, "To the soul which has been abandoned by this world, awaken!"

The room fell silent, only to be broken by Oz's pain-filled screams.

"Oz!" Gil cried.

But before Gil could get any closer, Oz shouted "Don't come any closer!" A few seconds later and Jack's form was taking shape right across Oz, with Jack bound by B-rabbit's chains.

"Let…me go!" the blond man shrieked in rage. Jack struggled in his restraints and was trying to return to Oz's body. This mental struggle between the two blonds was taking a toll on them both; Jack's soul was rapidly fading away, and Oz was close to losing consciousness.

"Hu-Hurry!" Oz cried out.

And with one last nod, Jiri approached Jack and touched him on the forehead, crying out, "Jack Vessalius, for endangering the world and going to great lengths to satisfy your selfish desires, you must be punished!"

B-rabbit's chains, along with another set that were clearly Jiri's, wrapped around Jack and quickly sent him to the deepest recesses of the Abyss in a flurry of flashing red light.

Just as Gil was about to sigh in relief, B-rabbit's chains suddenly made loud, clanging noises. By the time the red light had faded, Oz was enveloped in his own chains, with Jiri standing to his right.

"Oz! What's going on?!" Gil shrieked.

Oz, somewhat strangled by the chains, managed to release a choked laugh. "I'm sorry Gil, but I did make a deal with Jiri after all. While Jack may be gone, B-rabbit is still here, and in turn a threat to the chains supporting this world."

"Oz, stop talking rubbish! There's no way I'd let you—"

"Quiet child," Jiri commanded as she paralyzed Gil with her magic circle. And before Glen and the others could react, she did the same thing to them as well.

"Jiri, what is the meaning of this?" Glen asked, dumbfounded.

"Fear not, Glen-sama. This is not an act of betrayal. I have made an agreement with B-rabbit and I assure you that it is in line with our goals of preserving the stability of this world."

"What are you talking about Oz?!" Gil howled. "Don't you dare hurt yourself! Think of Sharon, and Break…and…and Alice!"

At the mention of Alice's name, Oz smiled softly, closed his eyes, and used his slightly freer right hand to tilt the scythe towards his neck.

"Gil…when all this began I had said I wanted to help Alice regain her memories because I believed that that would lead me to discover what my 'sin' was."

"Oz…don't…" Gil choked, tears unwittingly streaming down his cheeks.

Oz nodded his head and opened his eyes once more. "My sin, Oz the B-rabbit's sin, is the very fact that I exist!" And with that Oz swung his scythe full force towards him. Once more a blinding red light illuminated the room, and the clock that had begun to move had ceased on the stroke of midnight.

* * *

A/N: Now, don't you all worry. Everything is far, far from over. For the most part, things are going according to my plans, but who knows, life is unpredictable that way. :D

I hope you're all enjoying the story so far, because I sure am enjoying writing this despite the hasty narration which pretty much sums up my capabilities as a writer. I'm glad to at least be able to write more than a thousand words now. XD

If I may be a little selfish, I hope to get AT LEAST 3 more reviews before I release the next chapter. I already have a draft in mind, but school will be starting soon so I need to worry about that first. Please please motivate me. I tell you, increased reviews will definitely make me write faster.

* * *

**Anonymous Guests Review Reply**

A: Why thank you! I was worried about filling up as many loopholes as possible, and I'm glad it all somehow worked out in the end. To be honest, my theory didn't start out with the blood mirror. I was hell bent on something a little different, but the eventual loopholes that arose from that particular theory made me resort to the blood mirror instead.

Paz: As I was thinking my original theory, I realized that I had totally neglected that fact! But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that that part about Jack not sinking into the Abyss soon afterwards was an actual loophole in the story! (who knows, it might be clarified later on in the story, but I am diverging as early as now at least) I guess thinking about it over and over again really helped. In fact, I was so shocked upon learning that Oz was the true B-rabbit, but as I reread the previous chapters I realized that there was so much foreshadowing that I was so stupid not to notice!


	5. Chapter 5 Retrace: Jiri Baskerville

**A/N 1: **To any of you who are possibly hanging in suspense (at least, I think you are), this is a short intermission about Oz's first encounter with Jiri. Yes, I am partly dragging it out because I am sadistic that way, but more importantly I am working on a few more bugs in my plot (lol, I make this sound like a machine or something).

This chapter is set after the time when Oz's b-rabbit body in the human world disintegrated due to absorbing Lacie's last memory fragment and showing it to Jack. Happy reading!

**Chapter 5 Retrace: Jiri Baskerville**

Abyss…a place where sinners are sent in order to be punished; a place where beings called "Chains" are born; a place that distorts the very essence of what we call "reality"

As a place of distortion, the Abyss has no exact shape (or topography if you will), and its citizens, the "Chains", share no common features. The only things constant in the Abyss are the countless distortions and the endlessly cold darkness that has served as the reason for the humans to give the place (if it's even a place) its name.

In the midst of the haunting, desolate atmosphere of the Abyss, a red, cloaked figure sits calmly in a boat, listening to the squishing sounds of the water beneath her. She wears a small pendant, which casts a small, but distinct golden light.

Softly, she chuckles to herself, cradles the orb of light in her right hand, and whispers, "Wake up, little one. We're almost there."

The orb of light dimmers just a little, before increasing in intensity. Finally, a voice resounds from the orb, and replies, "Who are you?"

The old woman laughs softly once more, and answers, "My name is Jiri, Jiri Baskerville. I have come to guide you back to the person who is waiting for you."

"Person…who is this person? And why is this person waiting for me?"

"You already know her name," Jiri replies. "And as for why she is waiting for you, that is something you will have to figure out yourself. Do you even know how you got here?" she questions back.

The orb of light remains silent for a long time. Eventually, it breaks the pregnant pause and says "No, I don't even remember how I got here. What happened?"

"In time, child. In time," Jiri consoles. "You have been through a lot, and that has created a temporary lag in your memories. It will all come back to you once you have seen her again."

Another pregnant pause. Eventually, the orb of light speaks up once more.

"You call me 'child'. Is that really my name?"

Jiri smiles. "No. I call you that precisely because you have no name at this point, and also because I am here to take care you, at least, for the time being. I am merely a guide in this dimension called 'Abyss', and once we have arrived at our destination, we will part ways."

"Abyss…" the orb of light says slowly, as if testing the word out. "So basically, what you're saying is that all my questions will be answered when I meet this person again? And once I do, will I finally have a name?"

"Hmm, I'm not really sure about that. Your questions may probably be answered because you will remember everything you have forgotten, but that in turn may give you more questions. And as for your name, that all depends on things far beyond my knowledge."

"Can't you at least tell me how I got here? I have to admit I don't like being spoken to in riddles like these," the orb of light protests.

At this Jiri laughs loudly, her eyes shining with mirth. "Forgive me, I haven't had such a nice conversation in ages."

Turning serious, Jiri explains, "As I said, this is the Abyss, and I am guiding you back to your special person. However, prior to this, you were in the human world, and you made a great sacrifice which destroyed your body there. Fortunately, I was able to salvage the current you, your memories, and send you here. We're journeying towards your other body in order to preserve your existence. Does this make more sense now?"

Jiri feels the orb vibrate subtly, as if nodding in assent. "Alright. I suppose I will remember everything else later on. But, why is it so important for my memories to return to my other body then? Why couldn't it just stay in the human world or wander around here in the Abyss?"

Jiri merely laughs and says "Oh young one, the most important lesson you must learn is that everyone, human or chain, seeks to complete himself. The sole goal of our lives, of the universe itself, is to find whatever it is that will make us whole."

The orb is quiet for a while, then slowly asks "Then…are you like that as well, Jiri…-san?"

Jiri laughs softly once more and says "I do not know. Perhaps it is my goal in life to find the answer."

The boat comes to a halt, Jiri rises from her seat, cradles the orb in her hand, and says "Good luck child, and begin your journey to make yourself whole."

**A/N 2: **And that concludes this chapter. XD Hope it didn't disappoint, and at the same time this intermission is to keep you guys from getting impatient as I work on the next (possibly longer) chapter. School is slowing my progress down, but I hope to rise above the work.

* * *

**Anonymous Guests Review Reply**

Paz: I know! Ever since I read about Oz not really being human, I have been in total shock. Never, and I mean NEVER has a series made me feel like everything was a total lie (and that's something from someone like me who is obsessed with heart-breaking anime)! I intend for this fic to become very emotional, because I believe that's exactly how the actual series is going to be all the way until the very end.

Guest: That part where I wrote: "My sin, Oz the B-rabbit's sin, is the very fact that I exist!" was ringing in my head long before I finished the entire chapter (in fact, my fingers were desperately typing just so I could finally reach that part). I'm really glad you liked that, and I hope you'll like the rest of the stuff I'm planning. ^^

A: Hmmm, there's just no fun in answering that as early as now, now is there? XD And yeah, I'm so not helping by adding this intermission chapter (though it isn't completely unrelated to the future chapters). Ever since I decided to use her in this fic, I have been thinking about her origins and stuff. In fact, I was prepared to prepare an entire chapter about my theories of her past, but with the way my thoughts were going, I realized that too much dwelling on her would result in a huge divergence in my storyline and in turn make her some sort of deus ex machina, and I just couldn't allow that to happen. Still, I hope that this chapter helps somehow in shedding some light on her.


	6. Chapter 6 Reset: Collapse of the Cycle

**[short] A/N: **I AM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING FOR SO LONG. I blame schoolwork along with all the other shitty things in my life. Therefore, my mind is now in withdrawal mode and I am temporarily abandoning my long test due tomorrow, midnight, to write this fic. Yey me. XD

In case some of you are thinking that this will somehow be AlicexOz, think again. I did label this under "OzxGilbert", so it should be obvious, but I am restating it, just in case. Alice and Oz will remain strictly platonic here, despite what may be implied in canon (I HONESTLY THINK OZ SHOULD END UP WITH GIL NO MATTER WHAT!

Happy reading! The plot thickens!

**Chapter 6 Reset: Collapse of the Cycle**

"Ollie! Hurry up so I can get some meat!" cried Anice as she ran through the hallways, eager to go to the school cafeteria. Today was "Meaty Monday" (as Anice called it), and the lunch lady at the cafeteria always prepared beef steak on Mondays. As her twin sister Aly had once said, her brain was so meat-wired that she actually kept track of the cafeteria menu better than she did with her homework. Not that Anice could have denied that, of course.

"Hahaha, okay Anice. The bell just rang, so the other students won't be able to line up right away," Ollie replied.

"Oh shush. Let your guard down even just a little and by the time you get to the line, the beef brisket is halfway through! I am getting my meat, understand?!"

Ollie just rolled his eyes and smiled to himself. There was no way you can argue with a rabid, meat-hungry girl.

As Ollie had predicted, there was hardly any line at the cafeteria. Most of the students were still slowly filing out of their classrooms, chatting about the usual teen things: what their assignments were for the day/week, when the prom was going to be, who they were going to ask out, who was going to ask them out, etc. etc.

Ollie was one of the few people who didn't think about those things, at least, not too much.

Okay, maybe he wanted to ask Shirley Railey, two years his junior, out to his first ever prom. She is very cute and lady-like after all, plus she is a really responsible batch representative, but for that Ollie was sure he had a lot of competition as well.

Then again, maybe being Anice's date for the prom would be cool too. She does have this cute tendency of feeling awkward when forced to dress like a lady. Ollie sure enjoyed teasing her for that.

Anyway, for now, his biggest concern was to make sure that Anice didn't accidentally pull his arm off due to meat-induced overexcitement.

As soon as Anice had cued up for the food, she cried, "Ms. Lunch Lady! Three orders of beef steak please!"

"Hahaha, aren't you going to get fat at this rate, Anice?" Olllie teased.

"Like I care. This is high quality meat, get it? It is more than worth it." Anice retorted.

The lunch lady laughed heartily and made sure that Anice received three, very big servings. Once she had served her best client, she turned to Ollie and asked, "And what would you like, young man?"

Oz smiled sheepishly and replied, "Oh, no thanks. I'm not hungry."

The friendly pair gave the lunch lady one last nod of thanks before turning to the nearest table.

"Ollie, are you sure you're not hungry?" Anice asked once they had settled down into their chairs.

"Yeah I'm sure. I'm just a little sleepy I guess, so I can't really think about food right now."

"Hmmm. Did something happen?"

Ollie, who was blankly staring at the other students in the cafeteria, snapped to attention and returned his gaze towards Anice. "What makes you say that?"

"You know, you're a pretty bad liar, Ollie. It's written all over your face," Anice said calmly.

"What's written all over my face?"

"Something is obviously —bohzhering shew—" Anice stated as she stuffed herself gleefully with the beef steak.

Ollie remained silent and continued staring at her thoughtfully. Anice didn't speak either, and contented herself with waiting for Ollie's reply as she ate the beef steak, all the while focusing her full attention towards him.

Eventually, Ollie gave her a small smile. "You're a lot sharper than you seem to be. But don't worry, I really am fine. I just couldn't sleep very well for some reason, is all. Really."

Anice finished chewing the last serving of her beef steak and nodded, ending the conversation.

Wait…

"What do you mean I'm a lot sharper than I seem to be?!"

* * *

For someone who hated lies, Ollie sure liked to do it often. He didn't want Anice or anyone else to worry, and for him this was the best way, to accept everything and just let things pass.

The truth was that Ollie couldn't sleep because he was having nightmares. Really bad ones. He couldn't remember the details most of the time, just the sheer terror he would feel upon waking up; every single time, maybe around twice or thrice a night. Some days he would get lucky and wake up in the morning, right after the sun had risen. But most of the time he would wake up at odd hours and become unable to sleep once more. Those really took a toll on his circadian rhythm.

Sometimes, when his nightmares were just downright horrifying, he would remember bits and fragments of them. Most of the time they were about death. He would see piles and piles of bodies strewn all over the floor, bloody and charred black amidst the fiery surroundings. It made him want to puke even in the dream. He actually puked for real once during a really bad night.

Other times, it was the complete opposite. There would be nothing but endless, abysmal darkness around him, and a mysterious voice would gently whisper into his ear, saying that he had no right to exist and that everything he had achieved was for naught.

Those were even scarier than all the death dreams combined. When Ollie would awaken from such dreams, he would find himself drenched in sweat and breathing raggedly. Once or twice, he screamed himself awake, shouting "Let me go!" to the unknown tormentor.

This was one of those nights.

Fortunately, he was alone in the house. Well, he almost always is. His mother died when she gave birth to him, and his father rarely ever came home as he was working overseas as some sort of corporate biggie. Ollie didn't really know, and he didn't really care. He and his father were never close, and he knew his father hated him. In fact, when Ollie was around seven, his father slapped him and said that his existence was a mistake. Otto Versailles had always blamed Ollie for his wife's death.

Still, he couldn't complain too much. His Uncle Orman was tons better than his father. In fact, his uncle has been his official guardian/unofficial father figure for as long as he could remember. Orman had moved to the house next door not long after Ollie's birth, and since his child had died along with his wife on the day she was about to give birth, he had willingly welcomed Ollie into his life to fill that hole his long lost son and now-gone wife had unintentionally made.

Still, despite the closeness, Ollie was glad that he and his uncle did not live under the same roof. Otherwise, his uncle would have heard his screams and asked him what was going on. That was something he would much rather not explain. Not at all.

Once his breathing had slowed, Ollie gingerly lifted himself from bed and headed to the bathroom for a nice long shower.

Sleep would never give him peace anyway.

* * *

Obviously, he never told anyone about his nightmares.

Okay, maybe just to his best friend, Gordon Nelby. Just once, when he first had it on his fifteenth birthday a few months ago.

"Ollie, how are you feeling now?" Gordon had asked then.

"I'm fine," Ollie had reassured then.

Being the worrywart that he was, Gordon had gone into full mother hen mode in the succeeding days. He would visit Ollie every lunch break even though the college building was all the way on the other side of the campus and Gordon had only that one hour before he would have to leave for his four-hour fine arts classes again. Ollie had to admit that he did like the attention, but it did become a little overbearing after a while.

Finally, he told Gordon, "Look, I'm fine. I haven't been getting nightmares lately. Promise."

Fortunately that acquiesced Gordon, and that stopped his mother hen mode.

For the most part. He still kept texting Ollie, just to double check.

Despite every little, fucked up thing in his life, Ollie had to say that he was still the luckiest person on earth for having such an awesome friend like Gordon. Gordon was fiercely loyal, and by "fiercely", Ollie meant something more along the line of, say, "downright frightening". Sure they were childhood friends, but Gordon was a super duper loyal childhood friend that Ollie felt like they were blood brothers, or maybe something more.

Okay, stop. One does not have cheesy thoughts of being held in his "brother's" loving, loyal-to-the-death arms.

The sleep deprivation must be getting to him. And jeez, Ollie's currently reddish face and slightly rising temperature has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with blushing!

Moving on…

Ollie was on his way to the infirmary to get some medicine for his headache. The months of sleep deprivation were definitely taking a toll on him, and he had to thank his lucky stars that Gordon has been really busy with thesis and the seniors' retreat so that he wouldn't notice Ollie's deteriorating condition (or even be able to go to the high school building for that matter. Gordon's schoolwork had been piling up like hell. And since he was so guilty about being unable to visit Ollie lately, he would text "Sorry for being unable to see you. I'll make it up to you, promise!" everyday, and everyday Ollie would reply "It's fine. Now go work on that thesis!" with a smile). Anice noticed as well, but all Ollie had to do was brush her off and she would not pry any further. He liked her for that, in a platonic sort of way.

Ollie quietly slid the door of the infirmary open and entered, only to find the room empty.

"Um, excuse me, is anybody here?" he called out. Earning no response, he looked at the medicine cabinet to his right and tried to look for the headache medicine.

"And just what are you doing, little boy?" a voice whispered into his ear.

The sudden sensation of air on his ear startled Ollie so much that he could have snapped his neck with the way he quickly turned towards the voice.

"Oh, good morning Dr. Alex. I was just looking for some headache pills."

"Hohoho. This is the second time this week that you've asked for those. Mind telling me what is troubling you?" the doctor inquired.

Ollie calmly smiled and said "Nothing's troubling me, doctor. I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"And may I know what is making you wake up on the wrong side of the bed lately?"

"Just schoolwork. Nothing special. Bye doctor!" Ollie chirped, eager to leave. That doctor was too nosy for his own good.

"My my, what a stubborn brat," the doctor murmured to himself, covering his right eye with his bangs.

* * *

**Fairly long author's note that is [perhaps] necessary to clarify things:**

I'm sure you all know what the hell I'm doing here. This is obviously set in the 21st century. Am I completely diverging from canon? Hell no. I hope I left sufficient but not overly-revealing hints for you guys to understand that. ^^

For the convenience's sake, "Gordon" (who will all know is not really just "Gordon") is only 21 years old, not 24, which explains why he is still a college senior.

Please note that I am Filipino, and the education system is a little different here (we have less school years), which explains why the usual age range for a college senior here is 20-22 years old.

Since I mentioned "Gordon", I'm sure you all know which names go with which character from canon. XD

Lastly, please forgive me if my depiction of school life kinda sucks. I don't watch that many school anime because I'm more into intense, fantasy anime like Pandora Hearts. I hope it wasn't too bad. :D

* * *

**Anonymous Guests Review Reply**

Paz: Why thank you! I didn't expect anyone to be touched by that part, really. I merely found it natural for Oz to say that at that moment because his mind was mostly a blank slate and stuff and I felt like that line would contribute to the feel. Oh gosh I didn't know that! I wonder if Jun-sama knew that! (I wouldn't be surprised if he did…XD) I will forever remember that now too.


	7. Chapter 7 Reset: Deceptive Calm

A/N: I am so sorry that I haven't updated in ages! Again, I blame school because what else is there to blame? Anyway, I trust that you have all been reading the latest chapters (81: Children, and 82: Wish). This is more along the lines of semi-AU now, but remember it will always be kind of linked to canon.

As always, may you all read happily!

* * *

**Chapter 7 Reset: Deceptive Calm**

_Oz, the truth is waiting._

_You were never meant to exist._

_Nothing was ever truly yours._

_Your very sin is your existence._

* * *

"Ollie…Ollie!"

Warm, strong hands shook Ollie's quivering frame that was lying on the living room couch.

"Uncle…Orman?" Ollie whispered, his voice sounding hoarse and raspy. Judging by the body build and blond hair, it was definitely his Uncle Orman kneeling in front of him by the couch, gently holding Ollie's left shoulder with his right hand, and wiping Ollie's tears (which he didn't even notice were there until Orman touched his face) with his left. Still, Ollie couldn't be one hundred percent sure. His vision was blurry with tears, and his eyelids felt as heavy as concrete.

"Ollie, are you alright?" Uncle Orman asked, a frown marring his usually cheerful face.

Uncle Orman's voice was slowly pulling Ollie away from his drowsiness. After a few minutes (that felt like eternity), Ollie was finally able to open his eyes fully when his vision finally cleared up as well.

"Hey squirt, had a bad dream?"

"Oh, hey uncle. Yeah, but it wasn't so bad. Sorry about that," Ollie reassured. "By the way, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just about to ask if you wanted to go out for dinner! It's a Saturday night after all. You shouldn't be cooped up here like some emo teenager! Heck, you should invite Anice and Gordon too!"

Ollie smiled at the thought of that. "That sounds like a great idea, uncle."

"Alright! We're gonna rock the house down!" Uncle Orman cheered.

Ollie laughed. "Uncle…"

"Yes, Ollie?"

"Please stop acting cool."

"Teenagers these days…"

* * *

"Thanks for inviting me, Uncle Ollie. I mean, you know, what with the Versailles and Nelby families and all…"

"What are you talking about, little Gordie?" Uncle Orman said with a laugh, heavily patting Gordon's shoulder and causing him to almost choke on his food. "We treat you as family. And you know you and Ollie are like brothers."

"Ye—yes I know," Gordon muttered, irritated with his semi-near-death experience. "And yes, Ollie and I are like brothers. Or, to be more accurate, I'm his play servant."

"Hmm, from that smile on your face, I'd say you don't really mind, now do you?" Uncle Orman teased.

Uncle Osman's query was answered with a mere blush, along with a look in Ollie's direction.

Gordon's stare seemed long enough to garner Ollie's attention, so the spunky blond teen who was happily observing Anice pigging out now turned his head to Gordon's direction. "What's up 'Little Gordie?' Why are you blushing? Were you and Uncle Orman talking about your stashes of porn?"

"We were not talking about porn!" the accused shouted.

At that, Ollie laughed. He was glad that some things never changed.

* * *

"He's fast asleep, isn't he?" Uncle Orman asked, glancing at the three friends sitting at the back of the car.

"Yes, he is," Gordon replied, gently removing his jacket and wrapping it around Ollie, who was sleeping peacefully on his right shoulder.

"He's been really sleepy lately," Anice said.

Gordon and Orman looked in her direction, urging her to continue.

"He hasn't been eating that much either. Whenever I would drag him out to lunch he would rarely buy anything for himself. The most he would buy would be a piece of bread and a drink, and even then, that didn't happen very often. Earlier, he didn't even finish his meat. He made me eat it."

"How…how long has this been going on?" Gordon asked.

Anice didn't reply for a few seconds, as if lost in thought; the only sign of her movement were the clenching of her fists on her skirt. "I don't really know. Ollie is amazingly good at distracting me. He would just talk and talk while I ate and he would seem okay. By the time I realized that he hardly ate, he looked like he had lost a bit of weight already. He had really big eye bags too. I scolded him about it once. I even teased him and said 'I don't want to be seen with a wimpy boy who looks like he's about to fall off his chair, so go get some sleep!' He just smiled and dismissed me like he always did."

Gordon chose not to reply anymore. Instead he wrapped his arm around Ollie a tad bit tighter.

Uncle Orman sighed, refocusing his attention on the stoplight that finally turned green. "At the very least, keep an eye on him you two."

* * *

Uncle Orman finally parked his car in front of Ollie's driveway. As he unlocked the front door, Gordon gingerly exited the car while carrying the still-asleep Ollie in his arms. Immediately he followed Uncle Orman to Ollie's room, all the while looking at the house's interior, seeing all the comic books strewn on the floor, and spotting the blanket on the living room couch Ollie had slept on earlier.

Uncle Orman, following Gordon's gaze, explained: "When I stopped by here earlier this evening to ask Ollie if he wanted to eat out, he was asleep on the couch and crying the whole time. He kept muttering something like 'No, I don't want to' over and over again. Do you have any idea on what's going on?"

Gordon frowned. How long had this been happening? "No, I don't. I've been busy with schoolwork lately, so I haven't had the time to hang out with Ollie and Anice during my breaks."

For the umpteenth time that night, Uncle Orman sighed. "Alright. Let's talk about this once you've tucked Ollie in. I'll meet you at the front door."

* * *

As Uncle Orman locked Ollie's front door, Gordon was simply lost in thought, standing just a few centimeters away from him. He didn't know what to do, and he didn't know what to say. What on earth was possibly happening to Ollie? What was he dreaming about? It must have been really horrible to have affected his life like this. Most of all, how long was Ollie planning to pretend that nothing was wrong?

Knowing Ollie (and god darn he sure did), he would never ever tell anyone; not even him.

God he needed a smoke right now. Maybe he should ask if Uncle Orman had a pack?

Uncle Orman, seeing Gordon's predicament, threw a pack of Marlboros towards him. Too bad Gordon was so distracted that it hit him in the head instead.

"Thinking about Ollie, huh? I know how you feel," Uncle Orman said, taking a lighter out of his pocket and lighting his and Gordon's cigarettes. "Actually, I got a call from the school doctor yesterday. He told me that Ollie has been stopping by the infirmary lately, asking for headache pills. It's not really something major to call the house for, but apparently Ollie has been doing it often enough for it to garner concern."

Gordon's eyebrows furrowed. He needed either another pack of cigarettes all to himself or to spend the whole night with Ollie and make sure he was okay.

"Now I know what you're thinking, kiddo. Watching over Ollie the whole night will only make Ollie feel like he's being babied and put him on the defensive."

"But…but…I can just leave right before he wakes up!"

"And how long do you think you'll be able to keep that up? Remember, you have school yourself."

Gordon sighed. Fine, he had no argument to that.

"I guess the most we can do is watch him from the sidelines. Hopefully, he'll tell us what's wrong," Uncle Orman said. "I know that sounds like we're barely doing anything, but I seriously don't know how to go from there. I'll do my best to watch over him outside of school. Everything else will be in your and Anice's hands."

Gordon, having finished his cigarette, throws it on the ground and extinguishes the fire. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

The next day started horribly. Ollie woke up thirty minutes late for first period, so he made a mad, five-minute scramble to take a shower, get dressed, and grab a slice of bread from his fridge. The mad dash to school felt like a 7 kilometer race, even though it really was just a two-minute walk.

Fortunately for him, the classroom was devoid of any authority figures by the time he entered.

"Hey Ollie!" Anice greeted. "The teachers canceled classes for the rest of the day because they want us to cram for prom preparations."

"Oh. Whew, and here I thought I would get an extra load of homework!" Ollie smiled sheepishly.

"You overslept, didn't you? Had a rough night?"

"I told you, it's fine Anice. Everyone oversleeps every now and then."

Anice sighed. Ollie wasn't going to crack at this rate. "Fine. It's not my right to ask. I have to go to the gym since I'm part of the decorating committee. Ask our class rep which committee you're in. She should be roaming around the halls right now."

"Okay!" Ollie chirped.

"Take care of yourself, okay?"

"I will, Anice. I will."

* * *

A/N (2): Ugh, I wasn't able to put that much action into this chapter. Oh sigh. Actually, I intended for more action to happen in this chapter, but I guess there's nothing wrong with dragging it out a little bit. XD I promise to update a bit faster in the coming weeks as I am now on vacation. ^^

* * *

**Anonymous Guests Review Reply**

Part-Time Reader: Hahaha, thank you so much! I always love striving for a logical explanation of story lines because they just become mind blowing-ly possible and amazing that way. I hope I do not fail to please. :D As for giving everyone a happy ending, I make no promises. ^^


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